Balance billing: Someone didn’t get the memo

health care

Today in the Orlando Sentinel, an emergency room physician by the name of Jay L. Falk, on behalf of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians (FCEP), wrote a column titled, “Emergency Physicians Seek Solutions To Fair Treatment,” in support of a balance billing fix.

Dr. Falk, like everyone else, wants to hold patients harmless.

He suggests that the insurance companies pay out-of-network doctors a fee based on an independent database, mainly FAIR Health. FAIR Health, for those who have not been involved in this issue, is a national independent database used by states, providers and many insurance companies that indexes different charges for different services.

Here is how Dr. Falk says it: “Benchmarking tools, such as the FAIR Health database, have been created to resist manipulation by the insurance industry and to help ensure health-care-cost transparency. FAIR Health, a national, independent, nonprofit corporation, uses its database of billions of billed medical and dental services to help consumers plan or estimate health-care costs.”

In short, FAIR Health rocks!

So what’s the problem?

The FCEP is opposing the use of the FAIR Health database solution in the balance billing bills moving through the Legislature.

Oops.

Emergency physicians seek solutions to fair treatment - Orlando Sentinel (002)_Page_1 Emergency physicians seek solutions to fair treatment - Orlando Sentinel (002)_Page_2

Peter Schorsch

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including Florida Politics and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Schorsch is also the publisher of INFLUENCE Magazine. For several years, Peter's blog was ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.



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